Gaia: Mistress of the Elements
by Effervescent Dreamer
Summary: Come on, Ileana,” he pleaded. “You don’t mean that.” “Yes I do!” I hissed. I curled my fingers into fists and screamed, “I hate magic!” I hadn’t noticed that hot tears were gathering in my eyes until they slid down my cheeks.
1. Chapter 1

Gaia: Mistress of the Elements

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Whoo-hoo! A new story! A new penname! For those of you who are not familiar with my writing; I was formerly known as Sizzlin'-Starry-Night-sky. Icy Vengeance has NOT been abandoned. It's just with school and writer's block, the chapter is just not coming easily to me.

As per usual, I do NOT own the Power Rangers series…bummer.

Warning to any picky readers out there. I'm going to be switching POVs between Xander and my oc Ileana every few chapters. I'm also sorry for how ooc Xander may seem. It's hard to keep him in character.

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Chapter One: History Lesson

Xander's POV

The wind whistled through Rootcore causing the candles' flames to flicker. Thunder cracked through the air causing everyone to jump in their seats. Well, every _teenager_ rather. All of the adults barely seemed to notice the storm. None of us former rangers understood why we were gathered around the large crystal ball; if trouble had been foreseen, wouldn't someone have informed us by now? Instead, the adults-and Clare-were huddled in a corner bickering quietly about something. The normally placid Udonna had a pained expression on her face and Clare was wringing her hands nervously. Even though I couldn't see the look on his face, I saw Lienbow put a hand on his niece's shoulder trying to be reassuring. Obviously some kind of horrible evil plot was arising but nobody would tell us what was happening. I starting to get impatient. Apparently Vida shared my sentiment.

"Alright, that's it!" Vida burst out. "Would _somebody _please tell us what's going on so we can just hop on our brooms and go?" Lienbow turned to answer her when the sound of soaked footsteps grabbed his attention and caused his head to turn the other way. We all followed his gaze to find a drenched Daggeron and Itasis. Jenji must be in his lamp all warm and dry, I thought wryly. I saw Daggeron look at the group and nod gravely. Udonna nodded back and squared her shoulders before coming toward our table.

She looked worn, as if she had gone from being Nick's mother to being the grandmother of his children. Her eyes were both serious and tired. However the voice she used to address us still held its usual captivating power that made us want to focus on what she had to say. There were times I wished she could've been a teacher at our school; perhaps I wouldn't have tuned out like I had in a few classes. Seeing that a tale was about to be told and given the weather outside, I hoped it wasn't similar to the story of Catastros; it looked as if Nick agreed.

"Are you all familiar with the sorceress Gaia?" Udonna began.

I saw Maddie frown, confused. "Wasn't she the Greek goddess of the Earth?" Out of the corner if my eye I saw Vida shoot me a teasing grin, as if she was asking me, shouldn't what her sister said have been my line? Inwardly I rolled my eyes. Just because I had once been the mystic ranger who had power over the earth element didn't mean that I knew everything about its history fact or mythology!

Udonna smiled, "Often oral tradition has credited Gaia as a goddess because much of her adventures and battles took place in Greece, however she was often alone and not alongside the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Gaia did indeed hold power over the earth's natural magic, but she held power of all of the elements; fire, wind, water and lightning. It has been said that her original talent for manipulating the earth helped the Olympic gods and goddesses in fighting an uprising from the Titans; grateful for her assistance, bestowed gifts of their own elemental magic unto her."

"What does she have to do with us?" I asked. "Does she need our help or something?"

"Patience Xander," Udonna said. "I shall get to that part now. Gaia had passed down her powers to her daughter and from then on, once every one hundred and fifty years a new host in a new generation takes on the powers of the elements. About a decade ago, a new host had assumed her magic, but due to an unforeseen calamity, those powers were lost, scattered over the world and no one knows where they have gone."

"What kind of calamity?" Vida asked.

"Truthfully no one knows," Udonna admitted. "That part seems to have been written out of history, but what we do know is who caused it. His name is Xanthos. A powerful sorcerer who was a follower of the dark arts. It has been said that he was deeply embittered when the Titans, his key to immortality and in destruction were destroyed by Gaia and the gods and goddesses' hands."

"But why wait until so recently to get revenge?" Nick asked. "Why not strike then?"

"Xanthos had been present at the battlefield," Our mentor began. "In order to survive the backlash of magic that would have otherwise killed him, he transported himself to a cave not far from the river Styx. In the cave he put a spell of suspended animation on himself. There he remained for nearly two millennia; it is unclear as to how the spell was broken, but, no doubt we will find out once we find either Xanthos himself or Gaia's descendant." She pointed to small mass of darkness on the crystal ball that normally wouldn't cause much alarm. "Xanthos' magic is growing," She stated. "He has slowly been affecting the magical creatures of the forest and causing natural disasters in both of our realms."

I caught Chip's eager grin, "I guess the Mystic Force is back in business!"

"But how are we to find Gaia's descendant?" Maddie asked. I mentally echoed her question. "What do we need to look for?"

"The descendant has not been shown to us yet," Lienbow answered for his wife, coming to stand by her side. "But we shall keep an eye out for him or her."

"Xander once had the power of earth," Chip pointed out. "Maybe he can sense whether or not the descendant is around us."

"Oh yes," I agreed sarcastically. "Because I have an internal homing device that goes off whenever I'm near a magical persona!"

Chip grinned. "Just kidding Xander."

I just crossed my arms and huffed. "For the rest of today, you are not my best friend," I muttered. He just laughed.

Udonna pulled out her wand and waved it over the table. "I believe you shall be needing these once again." I shared the group's enthusiasm as our old wands/morphers appeared. I picked up the morpher with the small minotaur head and resisted the urge to say, "Strong as a tree, Green Mystic Ranger!" I laughed as I relived battling the Master's villains and the devious antagonist himself.

My non-morpher cell phone rang, pulling me of my reverie. I glanced at the id screen. It was Toby. "Hey Toby," I greeted amicably.

His voice was frantic. "Any possibility you guys could come back from Rootcore?" He asked. I could swear I heard his hair falling out from all of the stress. "We're overrun with customers and Nikki and I can't handle this on our own."

"Where are Leelee, Phineas and Motamboo?"

"Apparently there was a herd of unicorns in distress so they went off to help them." A pause. "Help _me_!"

I held back a laugh as I replied, "Sure thing Toby." I got up and headed for the tree's entrance. "C'mon guys," I called. "Mortal realm duties call." I heard a mixture of laughter and groaning as my friends got up and followed.

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Yay!!! The first chapter is done! I know it leaves you with some questions; but I shall try to best explain it as the story goes along. Please read and review!

RagingSapphireStorm


	2. Ileana

Gaia: Mistress of the Elements

I don't own the Power Rangers.

Thanks to AnimeJunkieGrrl and Eraman for reviewing my story!!! I'm a review addict, so please review! :D

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Book One: Mistress of Water

Chapter two: Ileana

Xander's POV

This is starting to get frustrating. It'd been a week since Udonna told us of Gaia and Xanthos. All signs of any future trouble brewing were the sporadic magic storms that showed up in the forest. Clare and Udonna took care of those with little problem. The duty of the Mystic Force for now was to see if we could find the descendant of the sorceress Gaia, no such luck. No matter whom we crossed, there wasn't a magical vibe that drew us to that person. It was kind of surprising really, seeing that after the destruction of the Master, so many believers of magic in Briarwood started stepping up, enabling both human and magical creatures to coexist peacefully. Yet there wasn't a single soul out there who seemed to possess the great power of Gaia. And _no_, I haven't been going through any power surges myself thank you very much.

I sighed, leaning on the broom I had been using to sweep the floors of Rock Porium. Today had been an extremely dull day. Not too many customers had shown up so Toby just spread us out with different tasks to straighten up the store. We'd all resolved to not use our magic to make the time not go by too quickly. I glanced around the store, checking on my friends. Everyone was going about things half-heartedly. Even Vida didn't look too interested in spinning the records at her turntables. Even though we were the Mystic Force again, Power Rangers once more, we hadn't been given much to do. It almost seemed pointless to have the morpher if it wasn't going to be used. Okay, I admit that I might be acting somewhat dramatic, but come on! I'm bored! I hope the descendant of Gaia shows him or herself really soon or I might be tempted to go provoke a troll just to have some sort of magical excitement.

As I fought to not fall asleep on the broom, I was startled alert by the chiming of the bell above the door, signifying the arrival of a customer. In walked two teenagers, one male and one female. The guy looked to be about a second-year in college and an avid hiker. The girl seemed to be my age--a senior in high school. She was tall, not taller than her companion, but tall enough for me to actually look her directly in the eye without bending my head. When it came to Maddie and Vida, I was at least a head, if not two taller than both. She was pretty, creamy peach skin with auburn hair that went down to her waist and crystal blue eyes. As her male companion went straight for the heavy metal section, she wandered over to the comics, Chip's territory.

Well, it's _normally _Chip's territory, but he was home with a cold. Keeping my pace casual, I came to stand next to her. I followed her gaze out of the corner of my eye and had it rest upon a fading issue of the Justice League. A classic. "So," I began, startling her, as she threw me a wide-eyed glance. Nonplussed, I went on. "Are you the type of girl to follow Wonder Woman's steps or Hawkgirl's?"

Relaxing a bit, she answered, "Neither. My favorites are Aquagirl, Terra and Pyra. Out of those three I like Terra the best." The super heroines she had listed were manipulators of the elements. Her favorite one, Terra, if my memory had it right, held power over the _earth. _Trying to keep my reaction relaxed, I asked,

"Why Terra? I heard she was a real antagonist."

The girl smiled. "That's true, but, you see, Terra struggled her who life trying to understand herself and maintain control of her gift. I guess I relate to her because I'm trying to understand myself, what path in life I'm supposed to take." She blushed, looked away from me and muttered. "And here I go, babbling all philosophically once again. That was the reason why I didn't fit in the last town we moved to, come on Lee, time to make a change."

I grinned and said, "Talking to yourself is actually quite the norm here in Briarwood." She returned the grin. "I'm Xander by the way," I continued, holding out my hand. "I could show you around town…if you want."

"Ileana," the girl replied, shaking my hand. She then took me by the shoulders and gently spun me toward the direction of the heavy metal section where her friend still searched. "I'd have to run your offer by my boyfriend first before I take you up on it." I felt the heat start to creep my neck. Hiking-lover boy over there was her _boyfriend_? Why didn't I see that? The air between them had seemed pretty platonic to me. Ileana giggled as she let go of my shoulders and started to stroll toward the heavy metal section. "It was nice talking to you Xander!" She called over her shoulder, musical laughter still lacing her voice.

I walked mechanically toward the forgotten broom. Picking it up, I let my head drop onto the handle and groaned. "She's taken?" Nick asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," I muttered, defeated. I turned my head toward him. "Wait, did you hear all of that?" Rejection was bad enough. Having it spread around so quickly was even worse.

Nick shook his head. "Your reaction is just typical of all the rejected males out there."

"Let me guess, you asked Maddie out and she turned you down?" I asked not bothering to hide my smirk.

Nick turned red. "No she didn't turn me down!" He answered hastily. "She couldn't because I haven't asked her out yet." He then muttered.

"What?!" I shouted. Then quickly dropped my voice to a whisper. "You still haven't asked her out yet? You better make a move on it my friend before that guy Ben comes back. Or worse, Vida asks for you."

Nick nodded. "Good point." He headed toward Maddie who was manning the register only to pause next to the clearance rack, two feet away and spun around in another direction before catching her eye. I shook my head and chuckled. And he once picked on _her_ for being shy. I heard the sound of hurried footsteps heading in my direction. I looked up to see Ileana's blue eyes practically smiling at me.

"What, break up with the guy already?" I asked, trying to seem nonchalant. Ileana laughed.

"Okay, the truth is, that guy is actually my brother. I'm single, but I'm not into the lady killer types." I tried to hide my blush at that. She handed me a slip of paper. "Here's my e-mail, maybe we could get to know each other better. And I would very much appreciate that tour, especially if it includes a tour of the school."

I smiled, still feeling the heat on my face. "It does."

"Awesome," she replied. "I have a feeling we're gonna be great friends." She then leaned and whispered, "And just between friends, if you lightened up the charm a bit, you'll get your Terra in no time." I felt something smooth being pressed into my hand. I merely gripped it as Ileana flashed me another saccharine grin along with a wink and danced out the door.

Looking down at the object in my hand, I saw it was an issue of Teen Titans, Robin's version of the Justice League so to speak. On the cover was Beastboy and Terra, the former doing everything in his power to act macho and suave while the latter looked on in great humor. Remembering what I could about this couple from the information Chip gladly delved to me, Beastboy had won Terra over by being himself. Looking back towards the door, I understood what Ileana was telling me. Grinning, I put the issue back in its respective place on the shelf only to pause when I looked at the covers next to it, one depicted Aquagirl, another depicted Pyra and a third had Thunder and Lightning on the cover. All wielders of the elements and Ileana, whose name had belonged to many a _sorceress _had shown me a comic about one who had power over _earth. _Looking back I the door I thought, _See you around mistress of the elements._

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_I'm not gonna lie. I don't think this is my best work, but it'll have to do for now. I hope to update faster and write longer chapters. Wish me luck!


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